


Waffles

by websterpoet



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Spoilers, M/M, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Waffles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-07-10 12:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6985957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/websterpoet/pseuds/websterpoet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark and Steve Rogers meet in secret to try and talk out their differences over waffles.</p><p>(set at an indeterminate point either during or after the events of Civil War)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waffles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Haplocke](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Haplocke).



> (A note on formatting - this is written in the style of a bonus scene or deleted scene from Civil War and, as such, is written in vague screenplay style. A forward slash ( / ) in the middle of a sentence indicates the next speaker begins their next line, speaking over the previous character. A dash at the end of a word (-) indicates the character being cut off or cutting their sentence short)

[INT, Stark Tower, STARK is walking downstairs to his workshop. He is alone. When he gets halfway down the stairs, he looks around. We see blueprints, engine blocks, half-full coffee cups, mechanical junk, and (barely distinguishable from the junk) about 5 different Iron Man suits in various states of disrepair. He sees something out of place - amongst all the detritus we don't know what that could be.

He strides purposefully over to whatever has grabbed his attention, knocking various things out of his way in the process, they clatter noisily across the floor. At some point he grabs a gauntlet from one of the Iron Man suits and holds it out in front of him like a pistol.

On a corner of the workspace in front of him is another coffee mug. There's some kind of note beneath it. STARK looks at it with suspicion and edges around to see it from all angles. The camera pans with him and we see that on the other side of the mug is a Captain America shield logo.

STARK knocks it to the floor with a jerky, uncontrolled movement. We can't tell if this reaction is intentional or subconscious. His breathing is quick and heavy. He may be having a panic attack.

He closes his eyes for a second and takes a deep breath.

He opens his eyes. He puts down the gauntlet and picks up the note.

Close up on the note. It just says "Waffles?" The handwriting is clean and exact, like you might expect from a teacher. It's illustrated with a little doodle, you can clearly recognise cartoon versions of STARK and CAP sitting at a little table and eating. Their faces aren't filled in all the way, so you can't see their expressions and they look kinda ghostly.

STARK flips over the note. On the back is an address. Close up on the note until it's the only thing in shot, then when he moves the note, QUICK CROSS FADE]

[EXT, waffle house, the frontage is faded, classic american-style diner. Possibly it's faux-old timey, or maybe it's just old. It's sunny and STARK is putting on sunglasses.

SNAP CUT to STARK's POV, an infra-red view of the waffle house interior through the sunglasses. Small lines of biometric data run undeneath each brightly lit figure. Targeting squares begin hovering over them for a few seconds, beeping increasingly rapidly, before homing in on one figure, sitting alone, hunched over a table. A warning flashes up:

"IDENTIFIED

STEVE RODGERS, CAPTAIN

RECOMMENDED ACTION: ALERT AUTHORITIES

The screen goes black, as if someone had cut the power.

CUT back to STARK, pressing a button on the side of the sunglasses and shoving them in a pocket.

STARK walks quickly into the waffle house, brushing past a family trying to find a table and waitress carrying a steaming stack of waffles.]

WAITRESS: Hey!

[STARK ignores her, taking the most direct route to the back where a somewhat large figure is hunched over a newspaper, a baseball cap pulled down low over their eyes. STARK slides quickly into the seat opposite him, his eyes darting back and forth, ]

CAP: I'm surprised you didn't bring back-up.

STARK: They're just a phone call away.

CAP: What about the suit, you bring the suit?

[STARK holds up three fingers]

CAP: I'm impressed. Where are they?

STARK: Oh, you know, around. One in the vents. One in the bathroom. One hidden up the barista's apron.

CAP: ... really?

STARK: No, she's just a barista.

[BEAT]

STARK: Am I gonna need them?

CAP: That depends.

STARK: Yeah? On what?

CAP [folding up his newspaper and looking Tony in the eye]: On us.

STARK [picks up one of the plastic menus, pretends to look at it, fidgets]: I didn't think there was/ still an us.

CAP: There could be if you wanted/ there to-

STARK: Oh could there? So now you're willing to/ compromise? To sign?

CAP: You know I can't do that, Tony.

STARK: Then what do you want?

CAP: I don't/ want you to do-

STARK: What you want me/ to do? There's nothing-

CAP: I want- Tony, I want you to goddamn listen.

STARK: ... Language.

[BEAT]

CAP: You know, back in the old days? Back before (MUSCLES) ... this. I got turned down to enlist/ 5 times?

STARK: 5 times, I know. I've been to the museum.

CAP: Well, OK. The thing is ... I know they turned me away to protect me. I know that. They thought I'd put myself at risk. Put others at risk. And I'm not saying that was the wrong call, but ... it took a very smart man to see that I had anything to offer. At all.

[STARK seems to be ignoring CAP, he signals a waitress who's on her way to another table]

STARK: Hey, could we get some coffee here? And cream?

WAITRESS [not super impressed]: Sure, anything else?

CAP: Tony, I don't want-

STARK: Decaff for muscles, here.

[The waitress walks off.]

STARK [looking at Steve over the top of the menu]: So, who was the smart guy?

CAP: A man called Erskine.

STARK: Yeah, dad mentioned him. Not, like, often, but- well, dad didn't really talk about anyone who wans't a genius, so...

CAP: But even after Erskine's procedure ... the army didn't want me. And the government had me selling war bonds-

STARK: Vital part of the war effort. Bullets in the barrel of your best guy's gun. Etcetera etcetera.

CAP: I'm trying to tell you something here.

STARK: Fine. You were the circus, they gave you their bread, I get it. Move on.

CAP: You know why I became who I am?

STARK: Liberty. Justice. Apple Pie?

CAP: Someone special saw something more in me. And someone I loved needed my help. When everyone else wrote me off, when the government and the army wrote me off, I learned I could do some good because of them. That was Bucky and Peggy. Bucky and Peggy. Following them has never steered me wrong.

[The waitress returns with coffe.]

WAITRESS: Here you are.

[she splashes STARK's coffee across the table]

WAITRESS: And your decaff.

[she place's CAP's carefully in front of him, leaning in a bit too close]

CAP: Thank you ma'am.

STARK [slurps his coffee]: So because you're special, the rules don't apply to you?

CAP: That's not/ what I meant.

STARK: It sure sounds like it, though. Just because you have power, doesn't mean you get to use it.

CAP: Tony, it's because we have power that we have to use it. Because the bad guys sure aren't gonna hesitate.

STARK: Steve, if we don't follow the rules. If we think we're above them, better than them, eventually we're gonna turn around and we'll *be* the bad guys. Maybe we start to think, 'y'know, the powers that be have let me down, so maybe it'd be better if I was in charge..."

CAP: You know I'd/ never-

STARK: What are we supposed to think? Captain America says he knows better than the Government? Than the UN? You're supposed to be a patriot.

CAP: Being a patriot means loving your country. Not your government. Being a patriot means fighting for what made your country great.

STARK: Oh yeah? And what made America great?

CAP: Standing up for freedom. Fighting for the little guy. I know things changed a lot while I was in the ice, but that's still worth fighting for.

STARK: Y'know, there's some poeple who'd say that what you wanna do? Sticking our noses in everybody's business. Kickin' ass, no matter what lines we cross? They'd say that's all that's *bad* about America.

CAP: I'm not naieve, I know about Vietnam, Iraq...

STARK: So what makes this any different? Y'know the difference between you and me? When I realised that what I was doing, the way I thought I was helping, was actually hurting people? I stopped. I did something else.

CAP: And you went and you fixed things that your government couldn't.

STARK: Or maybe I just kicked the hornet's nest.

[A long pause.]

STARK: We need oversight, Steve, if the governments-

[he's interrupted by the return of the waitress]

WAITRESS: Hey fellas, how's the coffee?

STARK: Do you mind, we're-

CAP: It's great. Thank you.

WAITRESS: Can I get you any waffles?

STARK: We don't-

CAP: I'll have the breakfast special on buckwheat.

WAITRESS: Sure.

CAP [with big warm smile]: Thank you very much.

WAITRESS [to STARK]: And for you, sir?

STARK: Screw it, sure. I'll have [scans menu] the cinammon and pecan. Hold the whipped cream. [She writes it down] Wait, no. Extra whipped cream. Just get it all up in there. Ok thanks.

WAITRESS: Great. Those'll be over in just a few minutes.

[she leaves]

STARK: Are you done now? Can we get back to the fate of the world stuff? Is that ok?

CAP: Sure. Fate of the world and then waffles.

STARK: It's no shwarma, I tell you that...

CAP: The thing about Governments is that they can be good or bad. They can make countries good or bad. Hell, at their best, they can make good people into a great society. At their worst, they make people into ... not even people. But governments don't fight wars. They start them sometimes. But you can't fight a war by committee. It's too slow. You miss things. You miss people. And that's what they're asking us to do - to fight for a committee who tell us where to go. Who to fight. And we need to ask ourselves: why are we doing this? Is it for the government? Is it for us? Or is it for them [he indicates people in the waffle house], for the people?

STARK: This wasn't a war until you made it one.

CAP: Well it sure felt like we were under attack.

STARK: Attack? Who was attacking-

CAP [raising his voice]: Us, Tony, people like *us*. That's why/ we need-

STARK: Y'know, that's why we need oversight/, to stop-

CAP: -we need to take responsibility.

STARK: To stop us from going bad.

CAP: Maybe you're right. Maybe we do need oversight. But the game has changed and they, the people who want us to sign these accords, they don't see that. They want the world to go back to the way it was. But the battleground changed when we started turning people into weapons - we changed it - and they're only just feeling the ripples. They can't fight this fight, Tony. The world needs us for that.

STARK: Steve, the world is *telling* us that they don't want us to...y'know what. Never mind. You want everything to change just because you put your foot down.

CAP: Everything's already changed. I won't apologise for being ready to change with it.

STARK: They'll come after you.

CAP: I know.

STARK: And what do you do when they arrest you? Throw you in a cell? Who're you helping then?

CAP: I'm more worried about who I'm helping now.

STARK: Huh. Well, when you need a lawyer, give me a call. I've got some good ones. If they even let you have a phone call...

[STARK starts getting up to leave]

CAP: Not staying for waffles?

STARK [pausing]: Why waffles?

CAP: I always liked waffles. Bucky used to make them when my asthma was acting up. They made me feel better. They're ... something that hasn't changed. Sure you don't wanna stay? They're good.

STARK [the tension goes out of his shoulders, like he's done fighting]: I guess I could stay.

[a long silence]

STARK: So, are we gonna be ok?

CAP [with a wry laugh]: Y'know, since I came out of the ice, it's been one thing after another. I haven't had much chance to work out a baseline. I'm not sure I know what OK looks like.

[BEAT]

But I know what waffles look like. And that's something.

[The two men stare at each other across the coffee-stained table. Then their waitress arrives with their waffles and their sombreness is lost in the clatter of plates and cutlery and thank yous.

The waitress leaves. CAP and STARK look at each other from across their steaming plates. STARK's plate has a truly ridiculous amount of whipped cream on it. They smile.

Fade to black.]


End file.
